at 30 rock in new york city. and we begin with the latest on the rapidly approaching fiscal cliff deadline of automatic tax hikes on everybody and what appears to be a stalemate in the negotiations. in his first interview since the election, president obama reiterated his demand that any deal must raise taxes on the highest earner. yesterday obama also appeared to showroom for flexibility on actually relowering those tax rates in the future. >> i don't think that the issue right now has to do with sitting in a room. the issue right now that's relevant is the acknowledgement that if we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we've already made and the further reforms and entitlements that i'm prepared to make, that we're going to have to see the rates on the top 2% go up. and we're not going to be able to get a deal without it. p what i've suggested is let's essentially put a down payment on taxes. let's let tax rates on the upper income folks go up. and then let's s